Price Is Right Live: Hollywood visits LR
Many kids dream of being on TV. As an actor. Todd Newton dreamed of being on TV. As a game show host.
“All I ever wanted to be was a game show host,” says Newton, host of The Price Is Right Live — the Drew Carey of the touring production — since it began 15 years ago. “I grew up studying, not watching, but studying Johnny Carson and Bob Barker. So the fact
I get to stand there with wonderful people from all across the country and play Plinko and play Cliff
Hangers and spin the Big
Wheel, I’m like a kid who shoots baskets in his driveway and all of a sudden is playing for his favorite
NBA team.
“There’s nothing that I’ll ever enjoy more.”
It was during childhood that the 47-year-old Newton — who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., when he’s not performing 125 shows between the spring and fall tours — says he was bitten by The Price Is Right bug.
“For me, it was my grandmother who introduced me to the show,” he says. “When I see clips of Bob, I think of my grandmother. I think of watching the show in college. I watch it now with my kids.”
His break came when he was hosting Whammy! The All-
New Press Your Luck on Game Show Network, produced by FremantleMedia, which also produces The Price Is Right.
“Bob Barker has always been my game show mentor,” he says. “So when this show came along, I think the production company just said, ‘Hey, listen, we have this guy who is being coached and trained by Bob … let’s put him at the helm.”
It was just supposed to last a couple weeks at a tiny theater in Reno, Nev., but, Newton says, “Here we are 15 years later. It’s one of those fairy tales in the world of show business. Everyone who works on the show is extremely grateful.”
Speaking of grateful, let’s discuss the prizes that Little Rock audience members — chosen totally at random with no auditions required
— could win during Monday night’s show at Robinson Center Performance Hall: trips, “piles of cash,” kitchen appliances. All the usual Price prizes. And, of course, “A NEW CAR!”
Because The Price Is Right Live is not televised, it’s more flexible. There are no commercial breaks. There’s no strict time limit; it could last 75 minutes or two hours. More people are able to compete, as a new group of four players fill Contestants’ Row each game. Other than that, expect what you see on TV.
“When we created this show, authenticity was priority one,” Newton says. “All the games are the same, the
music is the same, the set pieces are created by the same people that do the set pieces for the television show. We wanted people to have the true Price Is Right Live experience. If they couldn’t get out to Hollywood, our goal was to bring Hollywood to them no matter where they were.”
One thing the traveling stage show can’t do is bring the television show’s entire inventory of 100 games.
But, Newton says, they bring the very best ones: “When you come to see The Price Is Right Live, it’s a lot like going to see your favorite band and knowing they’re just going to play the greatest hits.”
It’s that kind of nostalgia
that Newton credits for The Price Is Right’s history on television and now on stage.
“The Price Is Right has been a part of our culture for … years now,” he says. “It’s been so many things to so many people. When I’m on stage with a contestant, I like to take a little bit of time to get to know that contestant … and it’s always fascinating to me how they became a fan of the show. … People relate it to sick days and days off from work and college, whatever the case may be. It’s just always been there, like your favorite pair of blue jeans.
“It’s like comfort food on television.”
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